Bloom Baby Class Your Brainy Baby
There is so much going on in your baby’s head right now its truly fascinating. Whilst researching for Bloom’s baby classes we have found out some amazing information so thought we would share.
You may think that all you newborn does is sleep, feed and repeat but that really isn’t the case.
Your baby is doing something incredibly important - she is growing her brain at one heck of a rate. These first days, weeks and months of your baby’s life are a vital time for her brain development. What she has learnt whilst in the womb will shape her for the rest of her life.
Your baby’s brain works harder than yous
“Over time, human beings have got smarter and that meant brains got bigger - until the point where it would be tricky for babies to be born” explains Dr Suzanne Zeedyk, a research scientist and developmental psychologist. (connectedbaby.net)
“So human infants are born at an early stage in their development”
The result is that your baby’s brain still has a lot of growing to do. “Her brain grows more rapidly between birth and the age of three than it ever will again” says Dr Suzanne
“It doubles in size in her first year and by the age of 3, it will have already reached around 80 per cent of the size it will be when she is an adult. And during this time it’s more active than an adult’s brain.”
During every second of your baby’s early months, a thousand neural synapses - the pathways that re formed from memories of experience - grow in her brain.
Your baby is born with a memory
“Mums often don’t realise that their baby arrives in the world already connected to her” says Dr Suzanne.
“Her brain has been developing in your womb and she can hear the world around you both from the third trimester. This means she arrives knowing your voice and that of whoever else is in the world on an everyday basis”
So although she can only see a small distance of 30cm at birth, your baby will recognise your voice and find it comforting hearing you chatting when she cannot see you.
Your baby cannot tune anything out
Your newborn can be easily over stimulated as they will notice every sound and sight around her.
"Your baby doesn’t know what to tune out because she doesn’t know how the world works yet” says Dr Suzanne “Right now she needs to notice everything to form all those synapses”
So while you are enjoying a cup of coffee in a café your new baby is taking in all the customers, the sounds of passers by , the coffee machine, the pictures on the wall. Etc
Your baby is a language genius
For us adults learning a new language is no easy thing to do but for your baby now Is the time!
“A brain goes through different developmental windows when it’s primed to notice particular things” says Dr Suzanne “and the optimum period of time for learning languages is from 3 months before birth and the age of 5 years”
Your baby is fine tuned to different sounds together with the rhythm and nuances of everything you say therefore learning a new language would be a much easier thing for him or her to do!
Baby LOVES you imitating her
Your baby is born anticipating a connection with the people around her, and she will use imitation to find it.
“she’s born with a brain that’s already interested in other people’s face: she’ll pay attention to them, reading and interpreting them” says Dr Suzanne “She will look for patterns from birth - for example if she sticks her tongue out, she’ll notice if your reply by imitating her. She’s always looking for a response from you, so if you copy her, you’ll soon find she starts “taking turns” with you.”
Her Brain is slow to control her body
There is an area at the back of your babies brain, the cerebellum, and is responsible for movement and muscle co-ordination. Until she is old enough and it is sufficiently developed, she doesn’t have the same control and older child does. Therefore your baby needs to learn to use her body.
Baby doesn’t consciously learn to roll or walk or crawl its a natural progression as the muscles in the body develop.
“Her brain then tracks the patterns of her body and the sensations, and neural pathways develop to give her control over her body”
Brain growth burns half of baby’s calories
Its a fact! and with all this growth and activity its no wonder. Your brain in comparison only uses a quarter!
At Bloom our classes provide a multi sensory experience for you and your baby, each activity is highly researched and benefits your baby’s development in different ways . Baby Classes across Stockport, Cheshire, High Peak, Greater Manchester, Trafford and Tameside.